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Higher Education

Higher Education

21 December 2021 | อ่าน 455 ครั้ง

Guidelines for the Fourth Round EQA for Higher Education

 

The external quality assessment (EQA) guidelines for higher education institutions (HEIs) developed by ONESQA includes two categories of EQA, namely: 1) “Common Standards”, which are assessed in accordance with the mission and context of HEIs; and 2) “Challenging Standards”, which are criteria for assessing quality at the category of “Challenging Standards”. The second category criteria for EQA intends to encourage the development of academic excellence of HEIs. HEIs can choose to be assessed with one of the two criteria based on potential and voluntary of the assessed institution.

Guidelines for EQA for Higher Education include 5 areas, 11 elements, and 32 issues for consideration as follows:

Area Element Issue for consideration
1. Achievements of management in accordance with the mission of the institution that responds to the national economic and social development 1.1 Organization Context that responds to the national strategy Consideration will focus on the goals/criteria for determining the desirable characteristics of vocational education graduates that correspond to the context and genuine condition of the graduates.
2) (2) The results of qualitative synthesis conducted by HEI in accordance with the development plan that is in line with the main mission of HEI. The development plan of HEI has to be compliant with the system and mechanisms prescribed by HEI. Its development plan has to be transferred to authentic operations that links to the goals of the national education development. (qualitative data)
1.2 Achievements of the implementation of HEI management 1) (3) The results of qualitative analysis of the achievements of the implementation of HEI management in accordance with the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy. (qualitative data)
2) (4) The results of qualitative analysis of the achievements of the implementation of HEI management in accordance with good governance guidelines. (qualitative data)
2. Quality of graduates (Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D.) 2.1 Quality of Bachelor's Degree graduates 1) (5) Bachelor’s degree graduates find employment, or continue studying further, or doing freelance work within 1 year after graduation. (qualitative data)
2) (6) The results of survey of employers’ satisfaction of employed graduates according to the Thai qualifications framework for higher education (TQF). (qualitative data)
3) (7) The Essential 21st Century Skills, e.g., employability skills such as hard skills, soft skills, IT literacy or digital literacy collected from the interviews with graduate users, or observed performance of such graduates that represent such skills. (qualitative data)
4) (8) The results of English language testing. (quantitative and qualitative data)
2.2 Quality of Master's Degree graduates 1) (9) The results of applying knowledge and occupational skills of such graduate in developing his or her job by harnessing advanced knowledge into practice and developing work in order to improve the work or the organization to be more advance in terms of policy, academic or management. Such successful results have to be able to provide observable recognition. (qualitative data)
2) (10) The proportion of work of graduates with master's degrees who develop their expertise or further their knowledge in accordance with (1) research and development guidelines based on institutional expertise, or (2) research and development guidelines to support the national development, or (3) research that can be applied to external agencies or industrial sectors. (qualitative data)
3) (11) The results of English language testing. (quantitative and qualitative data)
2.3 Quality of Ph.D. graduates 1) (12) Quality of research published nationally or internationally. (qualitative data)
2) (13) The proportion of research and creative work of Ph.D. students is research that creates new body of knowledge or innovations that correspond to the following criteria: 1) guidelines for research and development according to the expertise of the HEI; or 2) research and development guidelines to support the national development; or 3) research that can be applied to external agencies or industrial sector. (qualitative data)
3) (14) Results of English language testing. (quantitative and qualitative data)
3. Quality of research work 3.1 Quality of research and creative work 1) (15) The proportion of research and creative work that is consistent with the context of HEI and responding to the national development needs. (qualitative data)
2) (16) The proportion of research and creative work with citations quoted by other academic journals. (qualitative data)
3) (17) The proportion of research and creative work awarded or funded by external research sources at the national or international level. (qualitative data)
3.2 Quality of applied research and the development of innovation 1) (18) The proportion of applied research and innovation development that is consistent with the context of the HEI. Contribution of the HEI help creating new and inventive products and the invention has contributed to the national development. (qualitative data)
2) (19) The proportion of applied research and innovation development that has been registered as intellectual property with relevant authorities such as patent, copyright, petty patent. (qualitative data)
3) (20) The proportion of applied research and innovation development that can be applied for use or be funded for further development by external agencies. (qualitative data)
4. Results of academic services 4.1 Results of academic services extended to cover the public services 1) (21) The results of the assessment of academic services delivered to service recipients who harness the academic services to develop or to apply parts of a particular part of the services for his or her further beneficial utilization. (qualitative data)
2) (22) The results of academic services that can create additional value for recipients of the service, communities and society. The results of academic services can be utilized in a concrete way with a broad positive impact. (qualitative data)
3) (23) The results of satisfaction of academic services recipients who have brought the innovation from the academic services for further utilization that can respond to development. Such development supports the creation of competent community to develop quality of society that will be able to take opportunities and to encounter challenges of the future. (qualitative data)
4.2 Results of specific academic services 1) (24) The results of academic services assessments from the requested agencies that has been proofed to actually bring benefits. (qualitative data)
2) (25) The results of academic services that can create value based on the expected results of that particular academic services. They are as follows:
(1) In cash means creating value by calculating in the form of monetary expenses, value, income.
(2) In kind means creating value that does not focus on monetary value, income; such as creating bonds with the organization, creating organizational culture, or creating new knowledge, etc. (qualitative data)
3) (26) The assessment results of specific academic services conducted by the Academic Committee of HEI. (qualitative data)
5. Results of the internal quality assurance 5.1 Achievement results of internal quality assurance system 1) (27) The results of internal quality assurance (IQA) that bring benefits to the management of HEI. Therefore, HEI can bring such information to develop HEI further as part of the management of HEI. (qualitative data)
2) (28) The results of IQA as a consequence of the IQA operational processes of HEI. (qualitative data)
3) (29) The results of IQA that is a part of the driving force to create an internal quality culture within the HEI. (qualitative data)
5.2 Achievement results of all curriculums delivered by HEI 1) (30) The outcome of applying the quality assessment results of the curriculum for the improvement, development and management. (qualitative data)
2) (31) The curriculums that have been acknowledged by the parent organization, or approved by the related Association of Professions (in case particular curriculum needs approval by Association of Profession). (qualitative data)
3) (32) The particular curriculum has been accredited by International Accreditation Bodies (if any). (quantitative and qualitative data)

 

Common Standards quality assessment

The certification of standards of EQA for HEIs has the procedure to conclude EQA results of the assessed HEI by reflecting the performance of the HEI management in accordance with the context and category of the particular assessed HEI. EQA will also provide recommendations for improvement and development to each issue for consideration. EQA will be based on the judgment on how the assessed HEI’s performances are complying with the higher education standards as follows:

Judgment Description
Performances of assessed HEI are compliant with the higher education standards
  • The results of the operation of HEI are excellent, or in par with the global practices, or
  • The results are outstanding and are recognized as leader in higher education. HEI has demonstrated distinctive excellent performance higher than the goals set by the HEI, or
  • Outstanding performance of the HEI can serve as benchmark for other HEIs to measure up in various attributes.
  • The results of operation of HEI can serve as good practices or as national guidelines for good practices, or
  • The HEI has higher performance than the goals set by the HEI based on the potential and context of the HEI, and
  • The HEI can maintain consistently positive trend of its performance in accordance with the mission, goals of HEI continuously.
  • The results of performances of HEI are consistent with the criteria set by the HEI and its parent organization, and
  • The HEI has good performances in accordance with the goals set by the HEI, and
  • The HEI has a good outlook for the performances of its mission and goals.
Performances of assessed HEI are not compliant with higher education standards
  • The HEI has the planning but not yet operational, or with proof of operation that does not link with the planning or operational plan, or
  • The results of performances of HEI have achieved some of the missions and goals of HEI, and
  • The HEI’s performances would have been achieved, if there were adjustment, revision, or development, its missions and goals could have been achieved.
  • HEI has no operational planning or no performance achieving the HEI’s mission and goals, or
  • The performances of HEI need to be urgently revised or developed.

Judgment of EQA results

EQA for higher education for the year 2021 and 2022 will be judgment of the results of performances in various dimensions of HEI to verify whether the assessed HEI’s performances are compliant with the national higher education standards or not. It has following connotations:

  • Compliant with national higher education standards means the results of EQA of the assessed HEI meet the national higher education standards.
  • Not compliant with the national higher education standards means the results of EQA of the assessed HEI do not meet the national higher education standards.

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